Card Making

Hello and a warm welcome to Magpieheaven. It's a little while since I joined in with a challenge, so I'd like to link up to 'Country View Crafts' this month, where the theme is 'Anything Goes'. My entry is a simple birthday card. It seems that many Crafters start their crafting adventures with card-making. Then, judging from my own experience and from what I've seen in Blogland, creating a card that you're happy with becomes a challenge! Each time that I embark on a card now, I wonder, will this work? You don't want too many layers of embellishments if you're mailing the card, but you want it to look special and individual; you want the colours to be eye-catching and well chosen; you want to choose a technique that will be enjoyable to do and sometimes - if you're like me - you're disorganized and you didn't realize how close that special person's birthday was! I had a crafty friend with an imminent birthday and I sat for ages thinking. Then - a spark! It wasn't even an expensive piece of crafty equipment that inspired me, but a sheet of Old Gold tissue I had been saving and an old copy of Shakespeare's sonnets!

I scrunched up the tissue and then flattened it again, smoothing it out. I then dampened the edges with a paint brush and tore them so that they were quite ragged and frayed-looking. I stamped some PaperArtsy text in Stazon from a PaperArtsy mini script stamp onto the tissue. I chose Stazon for this, as the tissue had a slightly shiny coating to it and I thought the Stazon would stamp better on that surface. I gave the sonnet torn edges too and a wash of watered-down white Gesso. I was going to use a square Kraft card so I stamped this with some Onyx Black Versafine, embossing it with Clear EP.

As you can see, I used one of the new Lynne Perrella PaperArtsy plates, which have the look of stained glass. I used PaperArtsy Fresco Translucents: Hey Pesto, Beach Hut and Cherry Red and coloured between the embossing. I then stuck down my golden tissue using some Ranger Glue 'n Seal. I painted the torn sonnet with Translucent Frescos in Banana, Tangerine Twist and Toffee and a wash of Snowflake, very diluted just to tone it all down. I also painted the back of the sonnet, sprayed with some water and curled the edges.

I stencilled and stamped over the Kraft card to the right before sticking down my sonnet and edging it with Florentine Treasure Gold. Next I took some Smoothy Card and stamped it with a Lynne Perrella design that resembles a long window: this would be too long to use as it was, but I intended to cut it into sections. I used Versafine Black Onyx, which I then clear embossed. For this part of the card I used Frescos with Glossy Accents, as I wanted the glimmer and gleam of stained glass.

I created my own washi tape to trim the card, painting masking tape with a blend of Beach Hut and Hey Pesto. When I was at Stevenage, I bought some dial hands in a pack and I painted one of these with Blue Oyster Fresco and then - when it was dry - gave it a coat of Blue Sapphire Fresco. The little butterfly resting on the dial hand is painted with Tangerine Twist and then coated with UTEE. A few strips of black ribbon and some pearl pen blobs complete the card.

And - I almost forgot - a tiny sun face at the centre of a Prima embellishment with some more Glossy Accents to give it the gleam of glass.

The sentiment is taken from a Red Lead dictionary stamp that defines the word 'Artist', clear embossed over Onyx Black Versafine again. When we make art, however small our offering, it's so satisfying not only for ourselves; but it is always a way of sharing those things we find beautiful. In Sonnet 104, Shakespeare exhorts the young man to whom the poem is dedicated to marry and have children so that his beauty might live on.  I prefer to interpret this as an encouragement to create 'Art Children' so that the beauty in the world is increased and we have had a hand in spreading happiness, colour and delight and be an inspiration to others: this my crafty friend definitely is with her projects. Happy Birthday to my crafting friend and also a Happy Blogaversary to Country View Crafts who celebrate their second year of blogging this month!

Thank You so much for stopping by Magpieheaven today. I hope your week is a really happy and creative one.